How a knee replacement changed one man's life

For 60 years, John was told a knee replacement wasn't possible until he met an orthopaedic surgeon who helped him to walk again with confidence.

When he was just 19-years-old, John Lucas was riding his motorbike when he hit a truck. The brunt of the impact was taken by his right leg, leaving him with a smashed knee and a complex fracture that resulted in the loss of 9cm of bone.

“I don’t remember a great deal about that night,” says John. “I was told, ‘Don’t even try to remember it – it’s too horrific,’ so I go along with that.”

John spent a total of 48 weeks in hospital and for the next 60 years walked with the aid of a compensating raise attached to his right shoe. Then, in 2014, his knee got worse and he was having difficulty walking.

“I had an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon who advised me my best option was to just leave the knee,” says John. “He wouldn’t touch it. He told me regular knee replacement wasn’t possible, but three months later the knee packed up, grounding me for anything other than essential mobility.”

John believes it was due to the intervention of one of his younger brother’s colleagues that he found himself in the office of one of Australia’s leading orthopaedic surgeons.

Having confidence in medical advancements

“I’d always been told the bone wasn’t strong enough to take a [knee] implant and the muscles weren’t strong enough to support it,” says John. “I told [the orthopaedic surgeon] that, and he told me to get up on the bed. He put his hand on my knee and told me to push my leg down as far as I could. He said, ‘That’s alright, physio will strengthen that up.’”

After a couple of weeks of physiotherapy, John was in surgery.

“He replaced my right knee with a bionic one” he says. At this stage John was a long-time HCF member; in fact, with almost 40 years of membership, he’s one of HCF’s longest-serving members.

A bionic replacement was only the beginning

But that wasn’t the end of John’s road to recovery. He was having regular check-ups on his knee replacement when, in 2019, the orthopaedic surgeon talked to John about attempting a leg extension with a new procedure to equalise the length of his shorter leg that was injured in the accident when he was 19 years old.

“He saw I’d be a prospective candidate almost from the initial visit,” explains John. “But at the time I was so overcome by the fact someone had said they could do something for my knee, everything else went over my head.”

The orthopaedic surgeon broached the topic during nearly every follow-up appointment with John, but, in the patient’s own words, he’d “laugh it off and say, ‘Why would I do that? I’m happy as I am.’”

But John was getting older and walking around on a built-up shoe was becoming more difficult. With the chance of a fall becoming very real, John decided it was time to have the surgery.

Bone implants provide a new lease on life

“The first operation took place in February 2020 and I’ve had three more surgeries since then,” says John. “During the first surgery they broke the bone and put in an implant, one end of which extended and pushed the break apart. The next three surgeries were to replace the implant that was used to extend the break.

“Everything was done internally, and my body produced the new bone – it was a very simple yet amazing technique.”

It’s given John a renewed thirst for life. “I feel terrific,” he says. “I never accounted for what it would do to my sense of optimism. Nine months after the final operation, we did a trip to England and Europe for six weeks. That never would have been possible without the knee being fixed.”

And he’s recently completed his rehabilitation, which included intensive physiotherapy and hydrotherapy. HCF was with John during every stage of his surgeries and rehab.

“What pleased me so much was there was never a hesitation or reluctance to advise us what we were entitled to,” he says. “During a lot of the process, we were ignorant. We take out private health insurance and say, ‘Oh, well, let’s see what happens.’”

Both John and his wife also recently had cataracts removed during day surgery.

“Without HCF I probably would never have had this surgery done. It’s not life-saving work but it is certainly life-changing.”

Acts of Uncommon Care

As HCF celebrates its 90th birthday in 2022, we’re proud of the high-quality healthcare our cover has allowed members to access over the years, positively changing the lives of our members, like John, since 1932.

Our history is a story of industry-leading innovation, member-first milestones and investment in health and wellbeing innovation to provide Uncommon Care for our members. We’ve always believed in finding ways to help you be your healthiest self.

Words by Carrie Hutchinson
Published October 2022